SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

ghost story

  • When ghosts meet a good man – Reflections on “The Haunted House”

    •

    This reflection on The Haunted House introduces real‑life official Li Huaxi. It explores why Pu Songling set the ghost tale in his mansion, noting harmless phantoms and the moral that good deeds ward off evil spirits.

  • The Haunted House

    •

    From Liaozhai, this uncanny tale unfolds in Mr. Li’s haunted mansion. Shape‑shifting phantom household objects emerge, and tutor Wang Junsheng witnesses a horrifying miniature ghost‑funeral procession which vanishes after he shouts in terror.

  • Biting the Ghost

    •

    “Biting the Ghost” blends horror with everyday domestic life. The old man’s quick thinking (pretending to sleep, then biting) turns him from a passive victim into an active fighter – a rare moment of agency against supernatural terror. The story also plays on the tension between belief and scepticism, and the uneasy boundary between…

  • Spouting Water

    •

    This tale is a classic ghost story that plays on domestic settings and the horror of the familiar turning monstrous. It also reflects the traditional belief that the spirits of the wrongfully dead could return to haunt the living, and that physical remains, if not properly handled, could retain sinister powers.

  • Nie Xiaoqian

    •

    Ning Caichen, a native of Zhejiang Province, was noted for his galantry, integrity and upright character. He often used to say, “In my whole life, I’ve only had my wife and never another woman.”

  • Judge Lu

    •

    Zhu Erdan, of Lingyang, whose courtesy name was Xiaoming, was bold and outgoing by nature, though tending to be gullible. He studied industriously but had not yet made a name for himself.

  • Protected: Painted Skin

    •

    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.